Christmas Eve 2005
Baby Jesus?
“Come thou long expected Jesus…”
“…( in) little town of Bethlehem …”
“ Stille Nacht , Holy Night…”
“…was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay”
“Angels…heard on high…singing… GLORIA”
“Peace on Earth…Mercy Mild…God and Sinner reconciled…”
“O come all ye faithful…”
“Come and behold him…
…. Born.”
Baby Jesus
King
Incarnate Deity
Baby Jesus?
You could play the shepherd, if it helps you to allegorize. You could assume the perspective of a scholar, if it helps you to analyze. But we, too, are believers—confessors of a faith;
- story-tellers – communicating meaning
- disciples – displaying doubts
- Magi – magnificently gifted women and men:
Teachers, journalists, architects, admen, medical data researchers, professional musicians and striving actors, retired book keepers, financial advisors and home-makers — Children of God, called, to grow up bearing the Divine.
So let us go and see this thing that has happened is happening; will happen.
Christmas: past, present and future. Whether “The first Noel” or a Noel first: really look at the Baby Jesus.
What do you see, in that Bethlehem (of your own devising)?
Is the Creche , the Nativity scene, centered with a crib—for grain feeding the stable's livestock?
Is it a stable replete with straw? Golden? Or mildewed? Or is it a cave; stony, muddy?
We have Francis of Assisi to thank for our visions of Jesus' birthplace (Italian);
And Luke, for the marvelous view of nature miracle surrounding the birth (Greek); And Matthew, for the prophetic foot path leading up to the child and the fulfillment in the birth “O Bethlehem, Ephrata” (Hebrew).
But what about Baby Jesus? What do you see when you look on this infant?
Just a baby! Granted, no baby who is loved is just a baby. A baby represents, no, incarnates Love and Hope, and brings out our best intentions to get it—or set things—right, this time. Yes, babies are a new creation, a touch of the divine. But here I go, starting to sentimentalize a little bit. So, to get back on track:
All babies are a new creation. All babies are a touch of the divine. So, what about this baby; thisYeshua , Joshua, Jesus, Jesu , Jose?
What do you see when you look on the baby Jesus?
On Jesus:
not on the ox and the donkey
The little drummer boy
Ahmal and the Night Visitors,
or for that matter The Charlie Brown Christmas Special;
not on Mary mother mild kneeling at the crib in adoration. Because, quite frankly, she could have been in that kneeling position to give birth, but afterwards she would have been flat out; not on Joseph, with the beard older you know; more like a father than a husband to Mary; but on Jesus. What do you see when you see the Baby Jesus?
Hopes and Expectations?
Yes—but those… Do we see them there or put them there?
That's not a trick question. It's OK to put them there. We always do. But as with all parents (and friends and family) of babies, we have to let go of some of those hopes and expectations and let the child to grow. That child's life is about more than our hopes and expectations.And, still, this is true of every child. So, still, when we look on the Baby Jesus, we are looking at any child, any infant:
- which , on the one hand, should raise our sites and heighten our care and devotion for all babies the world over;
- while, still, on the other hand, keeping us mindful, in our Christmas-lit look at Baby Jesus, that this swaddling wrapped Bethlehem Babe is, well, is NOT the reason for the season!
That is, the crèche is unintelligible, is pure kitsch. That is, you cannot look on the baby Jesus unless you have first allowed the adult Christ to look upon you from the Cross. It is from the Cross and death that our Christmas vision of birth and crèche are given meaning. The Hosannas of Palm Sunday, turned hisses by Good Friday, are shouted and spouted long before the silent night of Christmas ever occurred. The Passion Pilgrimage of Holy Week's Jerusalem precedes Mary and Joseph's Bethlehem trek.
That was then and “Here we are as in olden days, happy golden days of yore. Faithful friends who are dear to us, travel near to us, once more.”So, how do we have ourselves “…a merry Little Christmas now?”
By seeing the adult in the baby, and by recognizing all that would and did happen; and thereby, receiving Christmas as the wonderful, wonder-filled, overture to faith.
God coos to get our attention. Our attention gotten, God calls—God calls us to grow up into Christ.
What do you see when you look on the Infant Jesus? If you see a child at all, you should be seeing yourself.
©Thomas F. Reese 24 December 2005